Mellon's Weight Loss Journey

[Shinsplint]

I think you're expecting results too quickly. Give it time. You're doing great. You've probably just been building muscle; that starts with fluid and electrolyte retention which shows up on the scales. If your body is feeling skinnier you must be losing weight. Hide the damn scales in the cupboard for the next 2 weeks.

 

[Melancholy]

I think you're expecting results too quickly. Give it time. You're doing great. You've probably just been building muscle; that starts with fluid and electrolyte retention which shows up on the scales. If your body is feeling skinnier you must be losing weight. Hide the damn scales in the cupboard for the next 2 weeks.

Hey Shin,

Yeah, I was afraid of that (expecting too much too soon). it's just so motivating in the start of the diet, to just start losing weight so fast. In my mind, I think.. crap, I could lose 40 pounds in a few months... then you hit the wall and it's like... BAM!

I don't know about hiding the scale ... I have to think about that haha...







On a good note, as of this morning I am at my lowest weight in 12 months! I am only 0.5 pounds away from the half-way point in my journey.. sweet! I have been sore the last few days from walking, but every day I make sure that I get out there and do a few miles at least, to keep the downward trend rolling. I am crossing my fingers that I can keep this short stint going. I hope tomorrow sees a smaller number and my motivation will shoot back sky high!













-Mellon

 

[Derrick]

All I know is once I got below 200, even a half pound per week was tough. Congrats on your progress so far!

 

[Melancholy]

All I know is once I got below 200, even a half pound per week was tough. Congrats on your progress so far!

Yeah man, I agree! How long did it take you to get from 199 to 193? I know eventually it will start up again, but I will never be back to that honeymoon weight loss stage of 4 pounds/ week (not that I want to). I am in this for the long-haul.

-Mellon

 

[Adnama]

Congratz!

Congratulations on breaking the 200 mark! It takes a LOT of patience to do this...keep up the good work!

When I finally hit my 200 mark the FIRST time around, it seemed to take an eternity to drop a pound at all...so I just bucked up and totally forgot I was on a diet and enjoyed my new healthy life...then the pounds came on off and I wasnt as obsessed by it...granted, I had 85+ pounds to lose before I even hit the 200 mark so I had plenty of time to drop into the lifestyle...by then, my eating habits were second nature.

Be good to yourself

 

[Melancholy]

Congratulations on breaking the 200 mark! It takes a LOT of patience to do this...keep up the good work!

When I finally hit my 200 mark the FIRST time around, it seemed to take an eternity to drop a pound at all...so I just bucked up and totally forgot I was on a diet and enjoyed my new healthy life...then the pounds came on off and I wasnt as obsessed by it...granted, I had 85+ pounds to lose before I even hit the 200 mark so I had plenty of time to drop into the lifestyle...by then, my eating habits were second nature.

Be good to yourself

That's good advice! Thanks. I am pretty settled in after even 7 weeks. I am used to portioning EVERYTHING with the exception of Sugar free, fat-free jello which has 80 calories in a whole batch!

Thanks!

 

[Derrick]

Yeah man, I agree! How long did it take you to get from 199 to 193? I know eventually it will start up again, but I will never be back to that honeymoon weight loss stage of 4 pounds/ week (not that I want to). I am in this for the long-haul.

-Mellon

I can't remember for sure but I think I got to 194 fairly quickly, about 1/2 to 1 pound per week. However, I then fluctuated between 194 and 199 for about 2 or 3 months before finally reaching 193 in July of 2009. I just couldn't lose any more. I think every body is different. Your stuck point may be much lower than mine. Don't get discouraged. Keep up the good work!

 

[Melancholy]

I can't remember for sure but I think I got to 194 fairly quickly, about 1/2 to 1 pound per week. However, I then fluctuated between 194 and 199 for about 2 or 3 months before finally reaching 193 in July of 2009. I just couldn't lose any more. I think every body is different. Your stuck point may be much lower than mine. Don't get discouraged. Keep up the good work!

Thanks Derrick,

Funny after all my complaining, I finally cracked through the 199 doldrums! Down to 195.4 as of this morning! Pretty excited about that.

I agree. The lowest I have ever been in the last few years (before all my knee surgeries) was 192 and some change.

I know it's going to take me a while to get back down to that point, but from there I am hoping it's easy to maintain!


I am kinda bummed about all my business trips coming up. I have to travel for 2 weeks, eating all the meals out... bust. I have the south beach diet book to take with me (for dining out) so I can at least reference things in there that are relatively healthy. At the conferences, they always provide some carb-loaded lunch like pasta salad, fruit, and sandwich with mega-brad, like half a freakin' loaf!


I did notice something last night. I fit back into my "round-1" fat clothes! These are the clothes that I purchased when I gained weight for the first time back in the day. Now, this is my most limited selection of clothing. My "round-2 fat clothes" which are sizes bigger than round 1, are now starting to be a little loose. I guess I will have some motivation to move past the round-1 clothes because I don't really have enough to wear for that long! Crazy.

Alright, off to get some excersize!

-Mellon

 

[Derrick]

The best is when ALL of your jeans are too big and you have no choice but to go buy new ones. Then you can talk to the mirror in the dressing room and say things like "nice ass!"

 

[Melancholy]

Haha... Nice!

Well, pretty stoked, still @ 195 today. I was thinking since the 1-day plunge was so dramatic, I was going to be shocked. Still might go back to 197 or so over the weekend, let's hope i was just retaining water because of my knee injury or something.

Yesterday was a tough day, but made it through semi-unscathed. I was so freakin' hungry all day, just kept waiting and waiting till the next meal. Used some really healthy alternatives for the snacking though. Did Hard-Boiled eggs, whites only, with Chahulula (sp?) sauce on there, some LF string cheese, SF Jello, etc. Just some healthy, low-cal snacks. I don't know if I was craving or what. Ended up eating around 1700 calories for the day, a couple hundred more than normal. Walked 4 miles, now the weekend is here. Hoping that I can play it cool over the weekend. Busy weekend with 3 meals planned eating out... going to test my resolve!

 

[Melancholy]

Alright,

Fresh back from my 8 day trip to the east coast.

I did really well, but still gained weight.

I was gone for 7 full nights, 8 days and have been eating/ drinking for the last week solid. I stayed at a decent hotel, and had access to a gym the whole time so that was nice. Walked/ worked out the whole time I was there.

I also drank every night, a couple times quite a bit. It was with friends/ family that I have not seen for a while, and I splurged a few times on food. Didn't over-indulge, just ate stuff that I didn't usually.

Final damage, gained about 6 pounds from my lowest weight yet. I am guessing there is some water-retention, etc. but I now have a pretty solid phase that I will be able to button-up and dedicate some time. Pretty excited to get back into eating right.

 

[Melancholy]

water weight??

Pretty crazy. I came back from my week long trip at 202.6, and now I am 196.4, so I know that in 2 days I didn't lose a whopping 6 pounds.

I normally take Tylenol for pain in my knee, but when traveling, it gets pretty bad (the pain), so I take some Aleve. I know that NSAIDS usually cause some bloating, so that must be it. I must have been retaining water, who knows. All I know is I think the extra working out paid off. I was traveling for 7 days, and worked out 5 of the 7 days total. Who knows!

I am back on the plane today, going to be traveling for the next few days. Breakfast always is a killer on the road, so this morning when I was making my egg white omlette, I also made 2 more for the next 2 days. I packed them over ice and arranged to have a fridge in my hotel room for the next 2 days. I also brought some low-fat string cheese, some celery, and some hummus. Everything that I normally eat at home. That leaves me 3 lunches, and 3 dinners that I need to take care of. A little easier for me. I can get salad, dressing on the side, cheese on the side and put those high-calorie items on as needed. I hope that works!

Alright, off to the plane!

 

[Melancholy]

alright... lowest weight of 2010!

I am not down much, but none-the-less on the right track. I resisted some serious drinking/ eating from the neighbors last night. They all ordered my favorite pizza, and were drinking/ partying. I hung out for several hours and even rolled into the party at one point with my own sugar-free jello haha... (nerd alert)... paid off though. Still lost weight last night.

I am done traveling for a few weeks, so hopfully I can creep into the 180's (late 180's hha) by the end of this month. I am guessing with the holidays coming up, it will be right around the end of the year when I creep into my goal range of the late 170's. I'll just have to keep up the exercise, etc.

The one thing that all this traveling has taught me, is that I can maintain fairly handidly after I get to my goal weight. I just need to eat healthy in between the customer visits, partying, and snacks with the neighbors.

Alright, time for some football!

 

[Melancholy]

FINALLY!

After about a month (see the graph on my weight loss ticker by clicking on it)... I have broken past 195!

I was in the high 190's for almost a month. I had some travel, but finally back on track.

Walked 5 miles today, and started out with some good-quality breakfast today. Off to Costco to get the rest of the weeks food, getting ready to keep the down-ward slide going!

Off to the high-180's!

-Mellon

 

[Melancholy]

wooo-hooooo!!!!!



SUB 190 for the first time in several years!!

It was awesome so see "189" on the scale this morning... so much motivation.

Been walking a lot lately. About 5 miles, and @ a quick pace (15.5 minute miles).. I use my iPod touch to track the laps around the lake I do. Still eating well, making exception on the weekends while hanging out with friends or family but pounding the pavement (diet-wise) as soon as the partying is over... alright... the goal is within some reach... time to get back to eating/ doing the right things!

-Mellon

 

[Adnama]

You're doin GREAT =)

 

[Melancholy]

You're doin GREAT =)

Thanks!!

These last 10 pounds are really making me work! What the heck, I was told it would all be EASYYYYY, that's why everyone can lose weight so fast! haha...

Yeah, really working hard, but sittin' in the same place. A lot of people are saying my face is really showing the weight loss. I like that. I am hoping I start to recognize the dude in the pictures I am in. I have not looked like myself in a longgg freakin' time!

 

[Melancholy]

Still going strong,

The weather in Southern California has sucked for the last week! Rainy, misty, wet trails that I have been running on, so today I actually cannot work out because the shows I wear then wash, are too wet from the other days to even use.

I am thinking of getting some old ones out, but because of my bad knee, I really don't want to use, used shoes.

Still eating well, still hovering at 189/190, have a feeling that I will be here a while. I was freakin' hungry last night!! I kept eating, albeit healthy items, but def. more than I normally eat. I just could not satisfy my hunger, so kept going!

Alright, back to the daily grind.

 

[Melancholy]

Pretty fun to take a break from the diary, and see that the last time I posted I was around 189 or so. I was at 179 this morning, so that will basically be about 40 pounds!

I have been really diversifying the diet as of late. Now I am eating phase 1/ phase II from the South Beach Books, both the blue and the yellow. I am very comfortable in my clothes again, so I want to work now on totally transitioning my eating habbits, to work on making this thing long-term, and not going back to the ways I was eating over the summer.

It has been 3.5 months since I started the diet, and could not be happier with the results.

From the start, I was walking, fast enough to keep my heart rate about 100 bpm or so. Now, as of today, I was up to doing about 6 miles total, 5 of which were a jog about 145 bpm heart rate average. Since the run has hills, my peak heart rate was about 179, and my minimum was 84 (during the 10 minute warm up)...

I also finish the workout with a set of muscle-building excersize, including push-ups, sit-ups, and squats with the intention of building muscle.

It's not totally easy, I don't mean to write that. Everyday there are opportunities to mess up. There is always someone asking if I want to grab a beer, go out for some happy-hour cuisine, etc. I can't wait to get past my goal so I can take up some of these offers once in a while, but for now, still trucking...

 

[Melancholy]

Alright, 121 days, or 3 months, 29 days since I started this diet, and it's 40.4 pounds lost since then! I have really slowed down, and changed the way that I lose weight since the start. I started with all diet when I started, now it's diet + exercise. I am VERY happy to be where I am right now weight-wise, considering over the holiday weekend I par-took in partying/ eating several of the 4 days (ouch!)... I was not sure how it would turn out, but I made sure that I worked out the whole time to keep it down.

GOAL REVISION: After I reach what I now am going to have called "Goal 1" (175) pounds, I am going to revise my goal to 165, for a total loss of 55 pounds. I am VERY happy at my current weight, but my BMI is going to be at the absolute peak of "healthy", and I would like to get closer to the middle for my height, which is about 160 pounds. The problem is, I have not weighed that since high school!!

I am not going to have a time-limit on my "Goal 2" since I am happy with my body right now, and that will give me a chance to have fun, without being too restrictive. I will accomplish my goal by still eating the way I have been, but not being so rigid. In the past, I was bringing dinners to my friends & families houses since the wife and I go out a lot (which worked, that alone is the primary reason I lost 40+ pounds already, by making only a couple exceptions to my diet), but moving ahead I am going to be eating what my friends make! While still exercising the way that I have been, thus keeping the reduction slow and steady, maybe 0.5lb's / week or so, putting me square in shape for the summer, maybe even flashing the "six pack" haha... my wife even commented this morning that my stomach is gone! That felt awesome. I am really, really happy to have stuck with the eating the way that I have for the last few months, and ready for the holidays!

-Mellon

just for fun, Here is my weight history since the start:

11/30/2010 179.6
11/18/2010 179.9
11/11/2010 182.0
11/09/2010 184.6
11/07/2010 184.5
11/06/2010 185.5
11/04/2010 186.2
11/03/2010 187.0
10/28/2010 186.2
10/23/2010 187.0
10/22/2010 187.2
10/21/2010 186.6
10/20/2010 187.6
10/19/2010 188.2
10/18/2010 190.0
10/16/2010 191.4
10/14/2010 190.0
10/12/2010 189.2
10/11/2010 189.6
10/10/2010 190.8
10/09/2010 193.8
10/04/2010 194.2
10/03/2010 195.2
10/02/2010 195.8
09/29/2010 196.2
09/28/2010 198.4
09/27/2010 202.0
09/16/2010 195.4
09/15/2010 198.0
09/14/2010 199.1
09/09/2010 198.8
09/08/2010 200.0
09/07/2010 203.0
08/31/2010 199.8
08/26/2010 203.8
08/24/2010 207.0
08/14/2010 213.5
08/04/2010 220.0